Published January 1976

The Early Poetry of Guittone d'Arezzo
Vincent Moleta
MHRA Texts and Dissertations 9


Published January 1979

The Teaching of Gasparino Barzizza: With Special Reference to his Place in Paduan Humanism
R. G. G. Mercer
MHRA Texts and Dissertations 10

The Realism of Luigi Capuana: Theory and Practice in the Development of Late Nineteenth-Century Italian Realism
Judith Davies
MHRA Texts and Dissertations 13


Published January 1982

Language and Style in a Renaissance Epic: Berni's Corrections to Boiardo's 'Orlando Innamorato'
H. F. Woodhouse
MHRA Texts and Dissertations 17


Published May 1998

The Epic Rhetoric of Tasso: Theory and Practice
Maggie Günsberg
Legenda (General Series)

  • ‘Günsberg examines her material with great accuracy... deals with important aspects of Tasso's thought and poetical practice in a meticulous way, and can be useful both for readers attached to traditional rhetorical categories and for those with an interest in more recent critical developments.’ — Laura Benedetti, Italian Studies LIV, 1999, 177-8
  • ‘An attractive and interesting volume that provides a useful addition to the comparatively thin recent output of Tasso scholarship in this country.’ — Peter Brand, Modern Language Review 95.3, 2000, 857-8 (full text online)

Published October 1999

Nelle Carceri di G. B. Piranesi
Silvia Gavuzzo-Stewart
Italian Perspectives 2


Published November 2000

Speculative Identities: Contemporary Italian Women’s Narrative
Rita Wilson
Italian Perspectives 3

Elio Vittorini: The Writer and the Written
Guido Bonsaver
Italian Perspectives 4

Origin and Identity: Essays on Svevo and Trieste
Elizabeth Schächter
Italian Perspectives 5

Italo Calvino and the Landscape of Childhood
Claudia Nocentini
Italian Perspectives 6


Published July 2001

Eugenio Montale: The Poetry of the Later Years
Éanna Ó Ceallacháin
Legenda (General Series)

  • ‘Explores the ways in which Montale demystifies his own status as a great modernist, satirizes historical progress and current social life, places himself as a 'ghost' among other ghosts, awaiting his dissolution into non-being which may or may not imply some hidden divine presence, and enters into the 'trivial' contingencies of everyday life... From what may have been the old poet's isolated and disillusioned position, he hits the mark time and again, as this well-crafted study shows.’ — Rebecca West, Modern Language Review 98.2, 2003, 479-80 (full text online)
  • ‘Let me declare myself at the outset: this is an excellent piece of work. It is the quintessence of scholarship: meticulously researched, methodologically sound and lucidly written... I cannot emphasise strongly enough the importance of this volume: every student of Montale should be encouraged to read Ó Ceallacháin's perceptive, and above all, comprehensible interpretations of Montale's later poetry. It goes without saying that the notes, bibliography and indices are impeccably produced.’ — Elizabeth Schächter, Italian Studies LVIII, 2003
  • ‘Effectively charts the continuities and changes in the the relationship between the poet and his history.’ — unsigned notice, Forum for Modern Language Studies XL.2, April 2004, 237

Published January 2002

Comedy and Culture: Cecco Angiolieri’s Poetry and Late Medieval Society
Fabian Alfie
Italian Perspectives 8

Playing with Gender: The Comedies of Goldoni
Maggie Günsberg
Italian Perspectives 7

Fragments of Impegno
Jennifer Burns
Italian Perspectives 9


Published December 2002

Metaphor in Dante
David Gibbons
Legenda (General Series)

  • ‘David Gibbon's book is a fascinating and subtle investigation of Dante's dazzling and experimental use of metaphors in the Divine Comedy. ... an important and notewhorty contribution to the understanding of Dante's use, creation, and renewal of the poetic language.’ — Paola Nasti, Modern Language Review 100.1, 2005, 229-30 (full text online)
  • ‘Not only is Gibbons alert to the complexity of the question generally - at once historical, hermeneutical, dialectical, and literary-aesthetic in kind - but his analysis of the texts he invokes is both sensitive and illuminating as regards the variety of Dante's imagery and its functionality within the poem as a whole.’ — John Took, Italian Studies Volume LIX, 2004, 153-4

Published January 2003

Luigi Tansillo and Lyric Poetry in Sixteenth-Century Naples
Erika Milburn
MHRA Texts and Dissertations 57


Published June 2003

Secrets and Puzzles: Silence and the Unsaid in Contemporary Italian Writing
Nicoletta Simborowski
Legenda (General Series)

  • ‘Simborowski's book provides a novel, interpretative angle for some of the most studied authors of 20th century Italian literature, inviting a reading which overcomes the limitations of the said by engaging the reader in an operation of 'voicing the silence.' The book is clearly written and Simborowski's positions convincingly argued.’ — Nicoletta Di Ciolla McGowan, Forum Italicum 38/1, 2004, 267-9
  • ‘This book throws new light on a crucial period of Italian culture. In the analysis of silence and the unsaid it provides a key for interpretation, which works well (although not infallibly), and which highlights fundamental issues in Italian literature of the second half of the twentieth century.’ — Olivia Santovetti, Modern Language Review 100.3, 7 July 2005, 843-44 (full text online)
  • ‘Secrets and Puzzles foregrounds and consolidates an important interpretative issue, offering a new perspective on mainstream authors and a new critical context in which to view other writers of the post-war period. An impressive contribution to the study, at undergraduate level and beyond, of contemporary Italian literature.’ — Jennifer Burns, Italian Studies 60.1, 2005, 111-12

Published February 2005

Authorial Echoes: Textuality and Self-Plagiarism in the Narrative of Luigi Pirandello
Catherine O'Rawe
Legenda (General Series)

  • ‘A short review cannot do justice to this arresting critical work. A combination of bold ideas with a meticulous attention to detail and a broad theoretical foundation characterizes O'Rawe's critical approach. Insights are always well substantiated with abundant evidence... Both a major contribution to Pirandello scholarship and a seminal challenge to narrative criticism.’ — Jennifer Lorch, Modern Language Review 103.4, October 2008, 1140-41 (full text online)

England and the Avignon Popes: The Practice of Diplomacy in Late Medieval Europe
Karsten Plöger
Legenda (General Series)

  • Ralf Lützelschwab, Quellen und Forschungen aus Italienischen Archiven und Bibliotheken 86, 2006, 814-16
  • Medioevo Latino XXVIII, July 2007, 1153)
  • ‘From the perspective of communication developments, the present book produces important insights into the many challenges with which medieval diplomacy had to cope.’ — Sophia Menache, The Medieval Review February 2007
  • ‘A thorough and enlightening study of how diplomacy was conducted between the two courts at a time when war, plague, and the activities of unemployed mercenaries made travel between Westminster and Avignon dangerous and exacting, while the reception enjoyed by envoys was likely to be frosty at best.’ — Norman Housley, Speculum April 2006
  • Stefan White, Francia-Recensio 2008.3

Published July 2005

Contesting the Monument: The Anti-Illusionist Italian Historical Novel
Ruth Glynn
Italian Perspectives 10


Published May 2006

From Florence to the Heavenly City: The Poetry of Citizenship in Dante
Claire E. Honess
Italian Perspectives 13


Published September 2006

Pastoral Drama in Early Modern Italy: The Making of a New Genre
Lisa Sampson
Italian Perspectives 15

  • ‘Handsomely produced (a tribute to its publishers and copy-editor), meticulously researched, agreeably written,with copious notes, a generous bibliography, and English translationsof all the original quotations, it is packed full with fascinating and thought-provoking information.’ — Eric Haywood, Modern Language Review 103.4, October 2008, 1138 (full text online)
  • ‘Vanno complimentati, infine, anche gli editori di Legenda (la fruttuosa collaborazione tra Maney Publishing e la Modern Humanities Research Association) che hanno curato questa pubblicazione impeccabile, e che hanno dato ampio spazio — scelta felice — ai citati originali in italiano (provveduti sempre di una traduzione inglese della stessa studiosa). In aggiunta alle note concise poste alla fine di ogni capitolo, la bibliografia e l’indice generale che concludono il libro costituiranno un utile strumento di consultazione ai molti studenti e ricercatori che troveranno una ricchissima fonte d’informazioni preziose (dalla descrizione meticolosa delle innumerevoli opere individuali, al contesto sociale, culturale e politico sempre ottimamente documentato) in questa monografia, la quale combina una chiarezza di argomentazione con un’analisi sfaccettata di un fenomeno significativo — se non proprio determinante — nel campo culturale della prima epoca moderna.’ — Rolien Scheffer, Italian Studies 64.2, Autumn 2009

Published December 2006

Camorristi, Politicians and Businessmen: The Transformation of Organized Crime in Post-War Naples
Felia Allum
Italian Perspectives 11

Sweet Thunder: Music and Libretti in 1960s Italy
Vivienne Suvini-Hand
Italian Perspectives 16

  • ‘Chapter 7 displays the dominating element of the five compositions: the reassertion of spiritual values over the material values of 1960s Italy. This distinctive tone makes these compositions uniquely commendable for further investigations into their influence on Italy’s artistic canon.’ — unsigned notice, Forum for Modern Language Studies 47.1, January 2011
  • ‘A welcome addition to the literature on recent opera, valuable to both the musicologist and the literary scholar... The literary readings are so detailed and sophisticated that it is impossible to do justice to them here... Definitely recommended reading for those with an interest in post-war Italian culture.’ — Emiliano Ricciardi, Cambridge Opera Journal 20.3, 299-302

Published January 2007

The Influence of Pre-Raphaelitism on Fin-de-Siècle Italy: Art, Beauty, and Culture
Giuliana Pieri
MHRA Texts and Dissertations 65